Who covers Rondo? When Dallas played Denver earlier this month, Mavericks shooting guard Jason Terry covered Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups, with Jason Kidd covering Aaron Affalo. Expect a similar situation tonight. Kidd simply isn’t quick enough to keep up with Rajon Rondo, so it will be Terry who will be called upon to cover him initially. When Terry is on the bench, the Mavericks could be forced to go into a zone to slow Rondo.

Injuries and depth:The Celtics collective health is a problem that is only going to become more glaring in the coming days. Sunday night they only had 11 active players and Rondo is fighting through a case of plantar fasciitis. How can they holdup over the rest of this road trip with games against the Heat and Grizzlies?

The Dirk effect: Boston may want to take similar approach to what they did Sunday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They allowed Kevin Durant to score a game-high 34 points, but limited the rest of the team’s opportunities, holding them to 39.6 percent shooting. The Dallas Mavericks have a huge weapon in Dirk Nowitzki, who is fourth in the league with 25.8 ppg. They may want to let him get his points and force the rest of the team to beat them.